Vice President JD Vance has an unexpected message for 'big tech' like Apple and Amazon
The Trump administration is saying 'go big or go home' on a number of important issues, but when it comes to big tech, Vice President JD Vance looks like he's telling them to 'go home'.
The great and the good of the tech industry gathered at Donald Trump's inauguration, with many being shocked at exactly how much money there could be in one room at the same time.
There was even the unexpected attendance of TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew - presumably hoping to navigate the app's impending ban in the USA.
President Trump is hoping to prove he's more tech-savvy than the previous POTUS, and launching his own meme coin just days before his inauguration was a shrewd move.
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We've already seen Bitcoin hit record highs and the world's richest (we're looking at you, Elon Musk) get richer, but not everyone is a fan.
As reported by CBS, Vice President Vance has called out the seemingly unfettered power that big tech could have, telling "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on January 26: "We believe fundamentally that big tech does have too much power."
The 'we' suggests a united front, but with Elon Musk sitting firmly at Trump's right-hand side as his self-declared 'First Buddy', we're not sure everyone is on the same page here. Even Trump himself has suggested the training wheels will be taken off the tech industry in the hope it can boom and make America a superpower in the industry.
Continuing to put 'big tech' under the microscope, Vance added: "They can either respect America's constitutional rights, they can stop engaging in censorship, and if they don't, you can be absolutely sure that Donald Trump's leadership is not going to look too kindly on them."
Although there were questions about the prominence of the tech bros being at the Capitol Rotunda, Vance is keen to downplay their importance. He told Brennan that Bezos, Zuckerberg, Cook, and co. "didn't have as good of seating as my mom and a lot of other people who were there to support us."
Even though this might seem like a U-turn on these tech moguls enjoying intimate chats a Mar-a-Lago, Vance suggested a similar stance against big tech in an August 2024 interview with "Face the Nation".
Back then, the future VP warned that the likes of Google are 'too powerful' and that a potential 'monopoly over free speech' means these tech titans should be broken up into smaller entities. We've already seen Trump try to carve off a chunk of the Chinese-owned TikTok for America, but with him only just getting onto good terms with the likes of Zuckerberg, will the men behind those megacorporations fall into line?
Despite big tech's apparent closeness to Trump, Vance has officially warned they're 'on notice'. It's important to note he doesn't specifically mention any leaders or specific tech companies, but it's at least implied that some of those at the inauguration aren't in the VP's best graces.